Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar: Wastewater Process Simulation 101 - The Fundamentals of Modeling and the Future of Process Intensification (Maria Scicchitano)

About

Wastewater treatment is becoming increasingly complex due to stringent environmental regulations and a critical need for sustainable and energy-efficient treatment solutions.

Process simulation offers a powerful tool for understanding, evaluating, and optimizing the complex interactions inside treatment systems. This presentation introduces the fundamentals of wastewater treatment process simulation and will review the essential steps for successful simulation, including proper wastewater characterization and sampling, historical data analysis, model set up, calibration and validation. The appropriate use and inherent limitations of models for the evaluation of new operational scenarios or treatment approaches and the predicted treatment performance will be discussed. Additionally, this presentation will walk through case studies, demonstrating how process simulation can support process intensification efforts – enabling the design of novel treatment systems and operational strategies that will allow facilities to do more with less energy, chemical use, and infrastructure than conventional treatment.

Maria Scicchitano, P.E., is a Senior Principal Engineer at Hazen and Sawyer with nearly a decade of experience in wastewater treatment design. She specializes in the planning, modeling, design, and optimization of both municipal and industrial treatment facilities, with her core technical expertise in biological treatment processes and process mechanical design. Maria holds an M.Eng. from North Carolina State University and a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from SUNY ESF. At Hazen and Sawyer, she partners with clients to solve their most complex wastewater treatment challenges.